


Fledgling Ward

by scarlthesnarl



Category: Soul Eater
Genre: Dragon AU, Fantasy, Gen, Magic, resbang 2015
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2015-12-19
Packaged: 2018-05-07 18:04:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5465849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarlthesnarl/pseuds/scarlthesnarl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Growing up in the world of court politics is hazardous, but when lordling Soul meets a little dragonkin girl named Maka, he finally has a steadfast companion. However, his father, Lord Evans, has a different interest in her, and if he has it his way, she'll never know freedom again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fledgling Ward

Soul runs past the mostly empty stalls of the stable, the shouts of his tutor chasing him. Like hell he's going to go back to that stuffy room to learn yet more about the Royal family tree and why King Haggard IV's stint with polygamy nearly caused a holy war. He skids to a stop at the end of the row, searching for a place to hide as the voice closes in. Spotting a small gap between the two rows, he shimmies into it and tucks himself behind the bags of grain stored there. Within the space of a few breaths, he listens to his tutor run by. 

He holds his breath, hoping that old Blanc doesn’t decide to double back and search the area more thoroughly. Wrapping his arms around around his legs, Soul rests his forehead against the dirty knees of his trousers.

He’s sick of the constant lessons and how his father looks at him. The pressure to meet the standard of his house is enough to drive even a child to madness. What little freedom he has can’t even be called that. The pursuit of music is the only thing that makes him happy but even that is tainted by the expectations of his lord father. 

Small tremors shake his frame and despair, as it often does, creeps in. What could he do? His only hope to leave any time soon was to develop an affinity for magic. In turn, he’d lose his status as an Evans, but he’d be free of this world at least. The fact that the Evans clan hasn’t had a single mage in its line for generations does little to bolster his hope.

A soft rustling of straw interrupts his thoughts and dread drops like a stone in his belly. Has his tutor found him? He hesitates before looking up, wanting to prolong the moment before the lecture as long as he can. No hands are reaching to pull him out of the crevice, though, and at first he finds himself still alone. 

“Hello.” 

He falls away from the soft sound, surprised. A girl’s face peers at him through the low light and dust motes. Dirt smears across her pale skin, and her clothes are soiled. Curiosity, energy, and a sense of playfulness makes up her presence and the feel of it raises his hackles. Such a state of personal ease should not be natural, how could it be? 

“Where did you come from?” Soul hisses, patchwork normal and sharp teeth bared. 

The girl scoots towards him on scraped up knees and whispers with glee, ”Over the wall!” 

“Well go back! Leave me alone.”

She pouts at his response, obviously expecting something different. She shoots back, “What about you? Why don’t you leave?” 

Damn it why won’t she take a hint and go? He sneers, “I live here.”

“Uhuh… Then why are you hiding?” She looks unimpressed.

“I- I’m not hiding,” Soul glares at the blonde intruder. 

“Liar.”

“Is someone there? Soul, come out,” the voice of his tutor calls, dangerously close. Drat, he must have heard their bickering. 

Soul stiffens when the girl turns and slips out of the gap and into the path of his tutor. It’s over. She’ll give him away, and he’ll be back in that stuffy old room writing and studying until his hand falls off and his brain gushes from his ears.

“Aha! Gotcha!” the girl cries out, “Oh. You’re not Deckard.”

“Ah… No child. Have you seen Soul Evans?” 

The old man must think she’s one of the servants’ children if he’s not trying to throw her out on her ear like he is wont to do with the street urchins who manage to get onto the grounds. 

“Soul?” she hums, “I think I saw him near the gardens.” 

He groans something about his bones not handling much more of this, thanks the girl, and trudges off towards the gardens which just so happen to be on the other side of the compound. 

“Is he gone?” 

“Like a sprite on a gale!” She answers brightly. 

Soul pokes his head out, glancing between the girl and the retreating back of the tutor, “You... got rid of him?”

“Yeah! I could go get him if you want.”

“No! No. Ahh… thank you.” 

She grins, “You’re welcome.” 

“Who are you?” 

“Maka,” her grin turns a little feral, revealing teeth shifting to be not unlike Soul's, “I'm a dragon. Well, half dragon. You must be too. Your teeth are even sharper than mine!”

“Woah. No way, I'm all human,” Soul laughs. 

She giggles and squints at this teeth, “Are you magic then? Are you going to be a mage? That'd be so cool.”

“No. I wish though.”

She socks his shoulder encouragingly, “You've still got time yeah? Maybe you'll get lucky!” She hops up and stretches, “Well since the living fossil is long gone, We should find some fun. What do you do around here, Soul?”

He has to think about it for a second, never having had a companion in his roaming. “Well... I like to hang out with the horses in their stalls and sneak them treats. Ummm exploring the loft and roof, but the barn hands or guards always find me faster when I'm on the roofs.” 

“Let's go then! I've never really been around horses too much.”

The pair climb over stall walls and creep around unsuspecting barn hands for the rest of the day. Maka scampers along the tops of the walls of the stalls after the first horse and  
every one after decided that they didn't want something that smelled so much like a predator around. It was only Soul's quick thinking and bond with the beast that kept her from getting her skull kicked in. Soul sits on the horses' backs, and Maka tosses him treats to feed them. It's many hours later when the stable master finds them asleep in the hay loft. The man can't find the heart to turn the young lord and his new friend in to the hearthkeepers or Lady Evans just yet. 

 

Spirit Albarn has seen and done a great many things in his short 24 years. He’s studied magic in the halls of the Royal Academy and has been inside the inner sanctum of the Arch-Mage, where the ceiling swims with an ever-present view of the stars in the etherium no matter the time of day or weather. He’s seen the great floating cities of Eibon drift by the peaks of the Valashir mountain range and explored the depths of dwarven mines. By the gods, he had a tryst with a dragon of all things! 

It's for the child of that tryst that he finds himself before the infamous Lord Alistair II Evans. The calculating man heard of the friendship between his youngest son and the small dragonkin, and requested Spirit’s immediate presence at the Evans’ summer estate. He should have known just who his darling Maka’s newest friend was; she has always been a draw for all manner of trouble. 

Lord Evans bears himself with poise and a frigid sort of dignity. Even the fiery mana that slides beneath Spirit's skin couldn't ward off the chill imposed on him by the man's presence. And he managed to bed a woman? More than once obviously, but he has to hide his wince of sympathy for the discomfort Lady Evans must endure sharing a bed with an ice wraith in human skin. At least his sons did not inherit their father's demeanor. 

He is shaken from his musings by Lord Evan's voice, “I trust all is well with your studies, Albarn?” 

“Aye my lord. Nothing to report in terms of damages at least. Progress has been slow but such is the nature of archane research conducted without full facilities.” 

“Ah, so you saw need to create a dragonkin?” Spirit's face drains of color and Evans continues, still impassive, “Tell me, where did you find the mana reserves for such a feat? I've not heard of any rash of disappearances here in Yarrowfield, but then drifters are not missed nor are they hard to come by. And the child herself, did you manage to convince some threadbare whore to give up her bastard or did you sire her yourself?”

Spirit seethes in rage and shakes with horror. Such works of magic like the creation of artificial dragonkin are denounced by the Royal Academy of Archane Studies as unethical due to the extremely unpredictable nature of the results and is illegal across the Kingdom of Mortem. Magi who are convicted of this crime are killed at best, stripped of their magic at worst.

Lord Evans leans towards him now, his pale blue eyes predatory and cunning as they survey Spirit's distress. One word from him, and Spirit would be shipped off to the capital for punishment, they both knew it. 

Spirit finally finds his voice and he croaks, “She's not created, m'lord. Maka is my daughter. She was born as she is. I've not touched her with magic but for healing small injuries.”

“Her mother is a dragon?” Alistair looks unconvinced, “Do you have proof of your claim?” 

“Another mage would be able to recognize the truth. I'm sure of it. Her mother could take human form. I did not know she was even pregnant until she dropped Maka off to me.”

“And no one else knows of her existence?” 

His paternal instincts are screaming at him now. Maka is at risk and if he didn't play this right she'd be worse off than him. A visit from the Brethren of the Way would see her slain as an abomination, a blight upon the creation of their god. “What do you want with her? She's of no use to you, nor is she a threat.”

“On the contrary, she is of great interest to me. From what I understand, she has been spending much of the summer in my youngest son's company. According to my hearthkeepers, they've grown quite close. Soul has even been more pliant regarding his education and behavior.” Lord Evans is at ease as he leans back into his chair, “If it would please you, I have a proposition for you.”

Spirit's mind reels wildly from the fear and stress Lord Evans is stirring up with each time he speaks. His mental discipline fails him for the first time in a long while and he nods, numb and emotionally whip-lashed. 

“I would like to take Maka on as my ward. If your word is true, her bloodline promises to be incredibly useful. Having a dragonkin amongst my number would be incredibly advantageous you see. She will be tutored alongside Soul and trained as a warrior, or perhaps a mage if she comes into magical talent. Once she is of age, she will be given a choice to swear herself to the household and into my service permanently.” 

Spirit falls into a pensive silence as he mulls over the proposal. Though she was born appearing human as can be, Maka’s draconic heritage shows itself a little more with every passing day. Within a few years, she will not be able to hide her status as dragonkin. As generally good and just as the people of this town are, their disdain for her kind will eventually overpower any affection they felt for the small pig-tailed girl; her fate would be no better elsewhere, among people who had not known her since she was in swaddling clothes. He swallows, trying to banish the lump in his throat. 

What Lord Evans offered was a dream come true for someone in Maka’s position. Instead of being considered of the lowest dregs of society, she would have an education on par with even the royals and mages of the land. Though she would never be able to marry, she could have a life of relative comfort and plenty. Over time, she could become a warrior without equal and the commander of the Evans Household’s military might. His dearest daughter could have a future. 

Though the man before him assured that it would ultimately be her choice to serve his family, Spirit couldn’t help but feel like he was signing away his daughter’s freedom. Even now, he could see the traces of her mother’s wanderlust in her soul. Could she ever be happy as the servant of a man like Alistair, a man known for his ruthlessness?

“You will have right to visit her at the Keep whenever you wish, and she and Soul shall continue to come to this estate in the summer months. So, Mage Albarn, what say you?”

**Author's Note:**

> Just so everyone is aware I will be posting the rest of this story tonight after I get home from my family Christmas party. Thanks a ton everyone!


End file.
